Would really like to get a rabbit.

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yasha2802

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Jun 13, 2019
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I would really like to get a rabbit. I really want a lionhead.
Is there anything that would help me with price for upkeep?

I was looking at Oxbow rabbit food and the price of that is very low for daily cost.
I think yesterdays news is a good littler for them. Again daily cost would be hard to estimate but at around $20 for 30lb its not bad.
I can't figure out how many oz a day of timothy hay they're estimated to use.

Maybe I'm weird but I like to know a estimated cost a day for a animal before I get it. Not looking for the cost of housing, entertainment or vet. Just cost for food and littler needs. The fresh greens I already have as my bird eats them. Sadly I throw out a lot of fresh green and they go bad to quickly for 1 bird.

Also what littler and food would you recommend? I'm not sure if the ones I said are what I should go with i was looking on chewy and the oxbow has good ratings and looks like it maybe a good food but I'm not sure what I'm really looking at for a rabbit as opposed to my other pets.
 
I also feed oxbow pellets to my two bunnies and have no complaints. For litter, I use horse stall pellets. I get these at Tractor Supply at $6 for 40 pounds. This is very inexpensive and I find the litter to be one of the cheapest things about having bunnies.

For hay, a rabbit should eat a pile as big as they are. My male is a very big hay eater, but my female isn't. This is just a rough estimate. I get my hay from Tractor Supply also, I get a big compressed bale for about $20 that weighs 50 pounds. That bale will last my two around 4 months because I make sure to give them a large amount.
 
wow. Thank you for the reply.
Sounds way cheaper then I was thinking it would be.
I think my fish food cost more a month kind of lost track though with Drs.Foster & Smith being no longer. They get like 4-5 types of pellets so I just started to buy a container of this and that $100-130 later get to mix them and well see how long it lasts guessing about 6 months. I have a lot of hand sized goldfish though.
I know my birds food does his pellets are not cheap. $50 for 5lb and that's only 1 of 3-6 types he gets the other types are same price or a little cheaper. That bag last about 4-5 months with the other pellets mixed in.
All of them even the fish gets the fresh greens. All in different ways though. I make the goldfish gel food and my bird gets it just washed off and ripped up to ripped in tiny piece mixed with quinoa or potato something like that.


It makes me thing though do you just use one type of pellet? My other pets I do different types as they all have different items that are beneficial in them.
Also is there a good list of most beneficial greens to ones I should avoid? My parrot gets mostly collard greens, mustered greens, dandelion greens, bok choy, radicchio, watercress, some swiss chard, radish tops and I sure there's more I'm forgetting. Can't walk out of the store with less then 3 types and he doesn't seem to eat more half of it before it goes bad. I just started trying to grow some myself.

I'll take and links to info you trust. I've looked some stuff up but as with anything online there's places with good info that knows what there talking about and places that don't. Be it forum links or websites any info you think it worth my looking at please share.
 
I love the horse bedding pine pellets too. So cheap and smell nice. I use about 8-10 cups every 3 days for a regular size litter box.
I buy 12pd 2nd cut Timothy hay from small pet select for $29 . Last about 2 months.
Had oxbow, but now use Sherwood premium pellets as our Holland lop is a good hay eater. That is $18 / 4.5pd bag and lasts a little over a month as our 4.5-5 ps rabbit only needs a 1/4 cup a day.
 
Just so you have some more data to pull from in regards to $ amounts, I use Sherwood pellets and get about 10lbs for $32. I have large breed rabbits (English Lops) so they eat about a cup a day right now (EL's are notorious for being hard keepers so they eat a bit more than even another rabbit their size). The bag lasts about a month I'd say? A little less maybe? They also get free choice hay, and my male eats a lot of hay. I'd say twice his body size a day sometimes? I buy hay by the bale and get 100lb bales for anywhere from $18-$25 a bale...the bale lasts me a good while. I do give my horses some of his hay for a treat, so I honestly don't know how long it lasts.

I, too, use stall pellets for his litterbox. He has a very large litter box, and I clean it out every 3-4ish days. The bag, for me, lasts about a month and a half...but I'm not stingy with the pellets since it's about $6 a bag and we live in a small space. Smell is NOT allowed, haha. Edmund can't handle greens -- always get's soft poops immediately afterwards, but my old holland lop went through maybe $10 of greens a week tops? But I'm vegan so I eat a lot of veggies and just give him whatever I'm having in my salad that day, so I honestly don't know. My bunnies have also always gotten dried herbs and flowers on their hay and pellets -- its about $5 for two weeks worth of dried herbs and flowers.
 
You guys are all so helpful thank you.
Have to make sure i know what I'm doing before I go off and get a few. I was thinking 2 would be nice. Lionheads aren't a bad breed to start with right? I would LOVE to have a very large rabbit but don't have the space for one right now. I'm thinking are hallway and bathroom would be a good space for a smaller bunny like a lionhead though. Talking about that I should find more info on the breed. I LOVE there look but just realized I don't know if there personality is really what I'm looking for as I know nothing about there personality. I want a really friendly little guy that wants attention. That would maybe sit on the couch with us at least from time to time. I know all bunnies even in a breed maybe different so there no guarantee even with the sweetest breed that I'd get a very friendly one but I can hope. I had a rabbit for about a week as a kid once it was a very hands of leave me alone to run type of personality. We babysat it for the week. I'm not sure what type it was but a little large then I read lionheads get maybe more in the 5-8lb range all black with tall ears or maybe 1 tall and 1 hanging down. It was a long time ago and I don't remember very well but think I have wanted one sense then.

I'll have to see about the stall pellets but we don't have a car so I'm pretty much stuck to ordering items I can get shipped to me. I do sometimes go out with family but there not willing to drive around half a hour to the closes tracker supply store.

Would it maybe be a good idea to mix Sherwood and Oxbow? Hopefully they will be good at eating all there foods and not picky but I do like the idea of trying to get as much covered in pellets as I can in case they are picky. Maybe that's just my bird way of thinking though. My parrot is very hit or miss with his greens and sometimes its just dependent on the day.

I'll have to go over all the links you added and do some research on the best places to get some of this stuff. I do have a pet supply store not to far from here that I go do with family almost weekly or bi weekly for all of are combined pets. I know they have some rabbit stuff but I'm not sure what. I also can see if they can special order some of it. There not really a farm or large animal (like horses) store so they don't have large quantities of hay. The large bag I think is something like arm length really random guess here but like 10-12 long and 4-6 square. Would buying a large quantity at a time be ok though or would it go bad?
I know with the pellets they say there is a lifespan so even though a larger bag of them maybe cheaper I maybe better off going with a smaller one.

Thank you again for all the links and info. I'll go over it. Bule eyes I love the picture of the toy bunny next to the food amounts. I'm a very visual type person so it helps me a lot. I try to read and understand all I can so I don't do anything wrong but as well as being visual I find it easier to understand stuff by doing vs reading. When I read it I remember it to say it to someone but my understanding of what it is I'm saying is a little off this I physically have to do so.
 
Thanks. Glad you like it.

Yasha, if you like visual, you may want to browse more around my site for pellet info, choosing your first bunny, etc.

Just wanted to say that you mentioned "before I go off and get a few." Please don't get more than 1 rabbit to start. Not if you plan on getting a young one. If you go through a rabbit rescue, you can get already bonded pairs (sometimes trios). But you don't want to make the mistake of starting with 2 babies. My website explains in more detail.
 
Ok I was thinking I saw that they should be kept with friends. I don't mind the idea of just getting one. Still have a lot of info gathering before I can think of getting one.
 
I would suggest getting a bonded pair from a rescue, just so you don't have to go through the difficult bonding process.
 
So after more reading, when I'm ready I think I decided while I really want a lionhead my best bet is to just go with a adult that is in need of a home and I get a connection with no matter what the type of look . Hopefully that way I know what I'm getting into best and maybe can even see or get the setup its use to.
 
Litter I recommend Critter Care any color. I use confetti to give the box some color. For hay I recommend Kaytee. It’s about $10+ per month depending on what brand or store your buying from.
 
My Bunny Drake said:
Litter I recommend Critter Care any color. I use confetti to give the box some color. For hay I recommend Kaytee. It’s about $10+ per month depending on what brand or store your buying from.
Click to expand...

The wood pellets (either for horse stall or wood burning stove) are more effective at odor control - especially helpful for indoor bunnies. They cost considerably less -- as little as $2 per month.

@yasha2802 , the wood pellets are often at hardware stores like Ace Hardware or Home Depot. Just look for the ones $7 or less for 40 lb bag. (Some areas of the country may not carry them in summer.)
 
Thank you Blue eyes. I was readying over the site to. A lot of interesting stuff. I'll check the hardware stores and the pet supply store we go to next time I'm there.

I don't think I want to go with Kaytee maybe its not the same with some of there other stuff but for there bird stuff its bottom of the barrel so to speck and while I'll like to keep price down if I have to buy the lowest end items its not worth getting a pet. I try my best to stay around medium to high quality Items.

Critter Care I also find to be one of those items that really only caters to what the human thinks looks good and not really what the animal needs. There's way to many "pet" items on the market only catering to what the human thinks looks good case in point the fact that it even comes in colors.

Thank you for taken the time to reply and I don't mean to offend with my comment but that's my beliefs.
 
Blue eyes said:
I have a costs estimate page on my website that may prove useful:
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/costs.html
Click to expand...
Thanks for that link, Blue Eyes. I need to switch bedding. Currently I'm using Clean and Cozy and I'm going through a bag a week for two bunnies! It's $20 a bag at the pet store!! I did buy a whole bunch online when I had a coupon but I still ended up spending about $10 a bag. I do clean both litter boxes twice a day though, maybe I can cut down to once a day and switch to horse/stove pellets.

Yasha, initially I thought hay would be the most expensive part of bunny ownership but it turns out greens and litter material will be my big ticket items when my bunnies start eating greens. It sounds like you already have a supply of greens with your other animals though, that's helpful! As others have mentioned, definitely buy hay by the bale if you can. Pet store prices are ridiculous. I've heard of people buying Standlee compressed bales or Small Pet Select boxes. I bought 9 pounds of timothy hay from Oxbow and I've used less than 1/2 of the bag in the last 3 weeks for two small Netherland Dwarf bunnies. Next time I might buy their larger size.

Regarding the shelf life of hay, if properly stored it will last a very long time. Just keep it dry and ventilated. I live in a very humid state so I try to avoid storing hay since I don't have room for it in my small house and it would have stay in my hot garage. I worry more about the shelf life of pellets.
 
Butterscotch said:
Thanks for that link, Blue Eyes.maybe I can cut down to once a day and switch to horse/stove pellets.

I worry more about the shelf life of pellets.
Click to expand...

You're welcome! With 2 rabbits, using the wood pellets, I could go 3 or 4 days between cleaning out the litterbox (no odor). Just follow the maintenance tips.

The pellets can also be refrigerated if you're worried about shelf life. I did that when I used to buy it in bulk. I'd keep one smaller container on top of the cage for daily use and the rest in the fridge until needed.
 
I imagine that depends on the brand and whether or not they are kept refrigerated and/or in darkness. A good quality pellet should have a date stamped.
 
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